Istanbul: My colorful, patterned paradise of a city

“Go to Galata Bridge,” the only instructions I had from my friend about where to find him in Istanbul. Fresh off the plane from Brussels I made my way to the line of taxis out in front of the airport in Istanbul. With this one line of instruction I feebly attempted to talk to my taxi driver…hoping that he might know Georgian or English…unfortunately he didn't but we did manage to communicate where I wanted to go after I had shown him this cryptic message. We took off into the darkness where I hoped Galata Bridge, where ever it was in Istanbul, laid. After 30 mins in the taxi and a 110.00 lira fare (all my Turkish money that I had pulled out at the time…roughly 50 USD) we made it to Galata Bridge.

Cold, confused, tired from a day’s worth of travel and weighed down with my luggage, I wandered along the water front looking for my friends. I was confronted by restaurant hosts who were offering me promises of authentic Turkish food and even an offer to be my friend for the night since my friends were nowhere to be found. I finally stumbled on a restaurant that allowed me to use their Wi-Fi so I could send out a Facebook message from my kindle…an SOS addressed to the other members of my travel group asking where they were and that I was lost and without any money. Hoping that they would magically decide to be online and check their Facebook account, I sat at the restaurant and awaited a response. About 40 mins later my friend Anthony replied asking where I was and then stating that he and my other friend Aaron were on their way to retrieve me.

My flight had been delayed and I had no way to let the other members of my party know that I would arrive late. During my delayed departure the rest of the group had manage to find each other, locate and check into our apartment that we had rented for the week, have a great Turkish dinner, and were currently watching the Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations episode of Istanbul’s cuisine when I was turning down friendly offers along the waterfront. About an hour and a half later after I had first heard back from Anthony, I decided to try and find them in one of the restaurants on the opposite side of the river. They were doing what I was doing and ducking into restaurants in order to use their Wi-Fi to contact me. By luck I passed them and Aaron’s big arm wave gestured me into the restaurant. We quickly had a beer to celebrate the reunion and headed to the apartment where the rest of our party awaited.

The next day I awoke to the call to prayer at 6am. The mesmerizing prayer echoed from the mosque and through our suburb of Fatih. We made breakfast and then we took off to explore the Grand Bazaar, the Blue Mosque, and the Hagia Sophia. I quickly found out that Istanbul is my spirit city with its beautiful use of colored tiles, Ottoman Empire architecture, spiced foods and friendly people. We hit the touristy sights hard that day knowing that New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day would be a bit slower. We returned to the apartment excitedly chatting about our favorite place we had seen that day.

The Grand Bazaar 

More of the Grand Bazaar 

Outside of the Blue Mosque

Inside the Blue Mosque...it was so pretty!

The ceiling above me in the previous picture

The Hagia Sophia

Window in the Hagia Sophia

Inside the Hagia Sophia

The next day, New Year’s Eve, we went out to wander aimlessly around the city with no agenda at all. I had so much street food that day: stomach sandwiches, lahmacun, doners, shawarma, spiced lamb, mussels with dirty rice and so much more.

We had a celebratory dinner and then made our way back to the apartment to get ready for the night’s festivities. Our kiwi friend Steve who we had previously met in Georgia before he had moved to Istanbul to become a full time teacher, drank so wine with use before escorting us to Taksim Square for the New Year’s Eve fireworks. We huddled together as a group staying warm and waited for the countdown to begin…though none of us knew Turkish numbers so we just waited until the crowd exploded with cheers. As soon as the countdown was over our group left the square as quickly as we could since there was rumored to be a political protest that night that if occurred would be accompanied by water cannons and tear gas. The fact that we saw a group of 20+ people wearing V for Vendetta masks and chanting didn't help the situation either. We made it back to the apartment safe and sound and played a few card games before going to bed .

Our third day there, New Year’s Day, was a recovery for most of us. We had been up pretty late the night before and had worn ourselves out pretty early in the week. We hung around the apartment for most of the day and went out for dinner at a nearby café.

Basilica Cistern 

New Year's Eve in Taksim Square

Our last remaining days we toured the Basilica Cistern, Topkapi Palace, the Grand Bazaar again, and Beyoglu, the hipster side of town where our friend Steve lived. On our last night we went to a bar and toasted to our good fortune and to our amazing trip together. The next morning we got up early, did one last clean up around the apartment and then boarded the mega bus that would be our home for the next 24 hours as we traveled across Turkey and back into Georgia. Istanbul was amazing and I've already got plans to visit it again in my lifetime. Happy 2014!

The whole group in Taksim Square for the New Year's Celebrations 

Bustling Brussels

December 23rd I embarked on my first journey abroad since arriving in Georgia this past April. It was exciting to leave Georgia behind and explore some of the world’s most exotic and historic cities.  My trip began in the early hour of 3am. My friend Kayla and I left our Tbilisi hostel and began our 30 min taxi ride to the airport. Both of us were nervous/excited about our trips. For me, it would be the first time that I would be back in a country where my blond headedness and my identity as “the American” would not apply. I would go back to a land of food, music, and culture that more resembled America.  For Kayla (an older volunteer who came to Georgia in April 2012), this would be her first time going back to America in 20 months. Like I said we were nervous.  Struggling to stay awake we checked into our respected airline kiosks and waited to board our planes. At 5:30 I boarded the plane that would take me to Istanbul’s airport where a 3 hour layover was waiting for me before boarding the plane to Brussels.  By the time I’d arrived in Brussels, I had been up for 2 days and 3 hours.

 Despite my slightly haggard appearance my cousin and her family claimed me at the Brussels’s airport exit. My cousin Natalie, my second cousin on my mother’s side whom I've only met maybe 3 times in my life…the last of which being 13 years ago at her wedding, was gracious enough to invite me to spend the Christmas holidays with her family and to show me around Brussels and the towns around it.  The first night Nat took me to go see the Christmas marketplace in downtown Brussels before we headed home to her very cute and very picturesque European farmhouse.

 Her two kids Allen (five) and Annabel (five months) were the cutest things ever and didn't waste any time in making me a member of their family.  Gino, Natalie’s husband and a policeman at the airport, arrived back from work later that night. The next day was a day of rest and preparation for the family’s big Christmas Eve dinner with Gino’s side of the family.  There were 17 of us that sat down to dinner that night.  In the house there was cacophony of languages ranging from French, Dutch, English and the occasional word in Georgian when I was asked to speak a few words of it.  The night was full of great food, Allen’s magic tricks and party favors.  Christmas morning around 6am, I found my name being called by Allen downstairs telling me to come quickly because Santa had come.  I came downstairs to find that Santa had also left me a little stocking full of American goodies such as peanut butter, syrup, Starbursts, long johns and woolen socks. We spent the rest of the day watching movies, taking naps and eating the leftovers from the night before.

The Girl who Squats

The Boy Who Pees

The next few days Natalie took me around Brussels and showed me some of local atmosphere as well. We saw two castles, Brussels’s main square the Grand Place, the boy who pees statue, the girl who squats statue, the military museum, the Leffe brewery museum in Dinant, the Caracole brewery, Waterloo, and even a small German town across the border called Monschau.  I found out local secrets such as where to get the best Belgium waffle (Brico apparently…a home improvement store that resembled Home Depot….Nat swears by their waffles) and some lesser known bars such as the Old Oak, an old Irish Pub that is popular with both the locals and the expats. Allen, Annabel and Natalie were great sports about seeing these touristy places for the umpteenth time and I very much appreciated their enthusiasm.

Me in the Grand Place at night

More of the Grand Place

Beautiful Cathedral in Dinant

The second to last night I was there two American soldiers that knew Natalie through  a friend of hers took me out one night to experience the Brussels’s bar scene.  That was a fun night to let loose a bit and meet people my age both country nationals and expats who lived in Brussels. I even made it to Delirium Café, a bar known for its long beer list, standing at 2,004 different brands and for being in The Guinness Book of Records for having the longest beer menu. The next day, my last day in Belgium, Natalie took me across the boarder to Germany where we spent the afternoon in a cute German town called Monschau. It was a perfect way to end my Western European adventure and to finally say that I've been to Germany.  Later that night I did laundry (my clothes were really confused, it was the first time in 8 months that they had seen a dryer) and packed up my backpack for my departure the next morning to my new destination….Istanbul baby!

Allen and I in Monschau

And the story continues...

End of School Semester

Well it’s been about a month and a half since I last wrote on here so I guess I’ll fill you in on the end of school, Christmas, New year’s, my trip to Belgium, Germany, and Turkey and the beginning of 2014. I warn you that this will probably be a three part post…bear with me.

First thing’s first, I survived my first semester of teaching. A huge milestone for those that know me…I’m not as apt to teaching as my sister Olivia is but I managed to do alright my first real go at it. My program manager came to my school to observe my counterpart Nino and I conduct a lesson for my 10^th graders. It was a little nerve racking at first but all went well for the most part. Both my counterparts and my school’s supervisor gave me glowing reviews and expressed to my program manager how grateful they are to have me.  I’m glad they feel that way; I’m never too sure what they think of me at times. Normally I can pick up on social cues and expressions but those are mostly lost in translation here.  We all have big plans for the coming semester such as have a technology training class for all the teachers at school, starting the dormant English club back up, and participating in more national projects.

The end of school came soon after my observation. The school lost power a few times and we even had to shorten our classes to 35 mins in order to keep the kids from freezing in the classroom. It’s harder than it looks to try and write with chalk while wearing gloves. The petchi (wood stove) in our classroom helps a little bit but just enough so you can’t see your breath in the room.  My favorite part of the last few days of school however (as childish as it may sound) was teaching my 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th grades all the lyrics to Jingle Bells and then having them sing it for their end of semester performances.  They in turn taught me the Georgian version of Jingle Bells which is more like a happy chant.

My best friend, her name is Blaze and she keeps me warm when I'm in the living room

A bebia (a grandmother) making her way down the cold snowy moutain

My family was really sweet and decorated their house early so it could feel like Christmas for me. My family usually doesn't decorate the house or put up a tree until the 25^th of December because Georgians don’t actually celebrate Christmas until January 7^th. So it was a real treat that they wanted to start their Christmas traditions early for me since I would be gone on my trip to Brussels and Istanbul.  My family and I decorated the tree and sang both Georgian and English Christmas songs as we decorated the house. My mom sent Christmas cookie cutters in a care package so I taught my family how to make Christmas cookies. They were a big hit, so big in fact that the neighbors were asking for the sugar cookie recipe that I had used.  I’m glad that I could share a bit of my traditions with theirs during the holidays.  It was a great way to spend some quality time with the family before embarking on my first trip of my service…Which leads me to my next post….

The Christmas tree my mother sent us